And yet in 2008, he found himself walking into recording studios feeling foul and fragile. Nichols went public about his alcohol and amphetamine problems in 2005, and checked into a rehabilitation program in October of 2007. In recovery, facing significant regret and self-doubt, he needed to stand and sing an album’s worth of songs.

“I would probably compare it to an athlete walking out on a football field for the first time after a really bad knee injury,” said Nichols, 32, of the sessions that produced Old Things New, released in October. “The first time back, you think, ‘Any minute, this thing is going to fall to pieces.’ You walk around with that fear, and you don’t play at 100 percent, ’cause you’re constantly thinking about that injury, and about, ‘What if I’m never able to do the things I want to do?’”

Nichols is a perfectionist who rarely if ever admits his own perfections, and when recording the album that would become Old Things New, his self-confidence was at a low.

“There were moments when I thought, ‘I’ve lost it, and I might not be coming back from this,’” he said. “I’ve heard of people having a mental breakdown and not being able to sing anymore, and I thought I was on the verge of that. I wasn’t sounding anything like I wanted, or feeling anything like where I wanted to be. I knew it didn’t feel right, and I wasn’t doing it like before, and I had to take baby steps and re-learn how to sing. Even the tiny, simple things I started doing way back when — things that should be easy — were hard. And it scared me. I was climbing up hill, and every step was harder. ”

‘The good stuff’

At a crucial juncture in his career, when his public admissions and time away from radio playlists made it imperative that he perform at a high level, Joe Nichols delivered an album that has already garnered significant critical praise and manages to sound both traditional and radio-friendly.

“My first thought in making this record was the fear of losing momentum, and not having success like I had with ‘Broken Heartsville’ or ‘Tequila Makes Her Clothes Fall Off,’” he said of New, released in October. “I was thinking, ‘We need a couple of (posterior)-kicking party songs: Keep doing what works.’ But then we got into the process, and it was like, ‘Am I going to make a career full of songs that last about a year and a half in everybody’s mind, and then I’m done?’ The thought changed to, ‘Let’s find the good stuff, and if I don’t believe in it then I can’t do it.’”

The album’s centerpiece is “An Old Friend Of Mine,” a ballad about overcoming addiction that was written by Rick Tiger and Brock Stalvey.” Accompanied only by pianist Gordon Mote, Nichols sang the song as if it were an aural autobiography.

“My wife’s biggest fear with me doing that song was, ‘Singing that song every night on stage, is it going to bring up a dark place in you? Is it going to have a ripple effect in a negative way?’ And I can’t look anyone in the face and say, ‘I promise that will never be the case.’ But I can say, ‘I’m strong enough to sing it, and I’m proud of it. With that song, there’s a clear question and one clear thought: ‘Well, you’d better stay sober.’ People are hearing that song, and a lot of people in recovery think it’s special to them, and the guy that’s singing it can’t just say, ‘I was just kidding.’”

Nichols isn’t just kidding.

“In addiction, you walk around in a cloud,” he said. “You only experience a small amount of joy or pain, and you don’t give out much joy. Now, I’m getting out there and having to feel the truth and speak the truth, and all these things are painful. They’re also making me happy. I’ve never experienced this level of happiness before. It’s like learning to walk again.”